Last year, Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R) successfully contributed to passing important bills that strengthened the sunshine state and its residents.
This year, he’s hitting the ground running by announcing that he has co-authored a bipartisan bill that has been signed into law.
With the new bill, Rep. Bilirakis has ensured that patients in need of bone marrow and stem cell transplants have access to lifesaving treatments.
Specifically, as reported in a press release, the Patient Access to Cellular Transplant Act allows “older Americans with blood cancers – like leukemia, lymphoma, and Myelodysplastic Syndromes” to have better treatment options than they currently have had.
In a statement regarding the importance of the bill, Bilirakis commented that “medicare policy simply hadn’t kept pace with technological advances; and tragically, this disparity threatened the lives of older Americans with blood cancers – often stripping them of hope for a cure.”
Furthermore, the Florida Rep. added that “whereas physicians once had very few options to treat patients, today, blood transplants offer a cure.”
So, “these treatments can be the difference between life and death,” and he expressed great joy at being able to pass a new law that “fixes the problem and ensures access.”
This actually marks the 8th piece of legislation that Rep. Bilirakis authored to become law in 2019.
Although Republicans are currently in the minority in the House, Rep. Bilirakis asserts that this does not discourage him. Speaking on the matter, he explained that he considers himself "a consensus builder, regardless of which party was in power or what distractions may exist."
As well, "when it comes to doing the right thing for patients and for our nation's heroes," he declared that he would "continue to reach across the aisle and get things done for my constituents and my community."
